Bhoot! Nation queues up to scream

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">NEW DELHI: Last seen, Manjeet was laughing her head off, all the way to the bank. Ram Gopal Verma had been wanting to do this for a long time: To put his audience inside a dark auditorium and make them grow goosebumps and giggle with cold fear. In short, he wanted "to scare Indians out of their lives."<br /><br />He may not have succeeded with <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Raat</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kaun,</span> his earlier shiver shows.But <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bhoot</span> seems to have truly spooked the nation. Bollywood is celebrating its first big hit after a prolonged drought with the film having recovered more than its Rs 6.5 crore in the first two weeks only. Currently, it''s running into its fourth week and is still drawing the crowds.<br /><br />Taran Adarsh, trade analyst, has seen the film a couple of times. Yet, the last time he saw the late night show, he woke up in a cold chill at 2 am, saw a spectre and whispered: "Oh God! Manjeet (the Bhoot) has come to my bedroom now." Adarsh laughs: "If this could happen to a hard-boiled industry-wallah like me, imagine what must be the chill factor for the ordinary viewer."<br /><br />Also, imagine what will happen after Bollywood completes its run of Scream and Slasher shows. For, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bhoot</span> has unleashed an assembly line of Horror Shows. "There are 12 in the pipeline already: <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Saaya, Hawa, 88 Antop Hill, Anjaane, Rudraksh, Darna Mana Hai.</span>.." points out Adarsh. In <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Darna Mana Hai</span>, Verma dares to draw menace from ordinary objects and events: A cigarette that shoots people, an apple that eats you up, a honeymoon that ends up in hell. In <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Hawa,</span> it''s the wind that says Boo — and does unmentionable stuff — each time it enters Tabu''s bedroom. <br /><br />For Mahesh Bhatt, who has <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Saaya</span> lined up for a July 4 release, the lure of the New Age horror flick is easy to explain. "If you believe in God, you also believe in the devil. And in India, almost everybody — even the upmarket multiplex cinegoer — believes in God." Films like <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bhoot</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Raaz</span> appeal to the primitive mind of the post-modern man and demand a purely physical, non-cerebral response from the viewer, feels Bhatt.<br /><br />Small wonder, post-millennium India — with its primitive underbelly — is queuing up to SCREAM.</div> </div>